SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Documentary filmmaker and Saratoga native Sharon Potoker Liese understands today's high school experience better than many other adults -- she's been on the inside of young girls' journeys through those key four years.

Her two original "High School Confidential" TV series chronicle the private lives of teenage girls. The second series is airing on WE TV this month.

While the first series follows 12 girls at a suburban Kansas City high school, the second explores the lives of 10 girls at Chicago's Von Steuben High School.

In both series, the girls struggle with self-image, self-doubt and discovering who they are. The urban Chicago school has more students from a range of economic backgrounds and ethnicities, Liese said, and violence in the students' homes and neighborhoods is more common in Chicago.

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Overall, today's teenage girls are under more pressure, Liese said.

"They are to be sexy, cute and fun, as well as confident and successful," she said.

One of the Chicago girls, Cierra, became pregnant at 16, the same age her mother was when Cierra was born. But her mother could focus on the baby, whereas Cierra found herself expected to graduate from high school as well as be a mother.

"The pregnancy devastated Cierra's life," Liese said. "She didn't want to have an abortion, and she faced huge challenges. She had such pressure to take care of this little life inside her. Eventually, she had her baby, and she also went back to school."

The featured girls were happy to tell their stories and to help other high-schoolers, Liese said. One of the girls' mothers said the series gave her insight.

Mother/daughter relationships were the impetus for Liese to start the project. When her own child, Justine, now 25, began high school, Liese looked for books and information on guiding a student through the four years. She found nothing helpful. Because she worked at a communications company and had done some video production, the idea of the film project came to her.

The first time out, Liese filmed her entire series with the help of mentors and then headed to California to sell the girls' stories.

"I went out to L.A. with my agent and a box of completed tapes," she said. "I was so naive. I didn't know you had to sell a concept before you started filming. But I had a Cinderella experience there."

Three studios wanted Liese's "High School Confidential." New Line TV took on the editing and post-production, and WE TV aired both seasons.

"People's jaws drop when they hear how it all happened," Liese said.

After the series ran, she was pleased to see how the stories affected viewers' relationships.

"The best outcome from the series is that it's inspired conversations," she said. "Issues like drugs come up while a mother and a daughter are watching the film. They can discuss the issue and build a stronger relationship that's key to helping a girl through high school's challenges."

More live discussion will come Wednesday night, Jan. 9, when the casts of both seasons will be available on Twitter at #highschoolconfidential. Back-to-back episodes about the Chicago girls' senior year air at 11 p.m. and midnight Wednesday.